The Keep:Merfy's Rogue guide
This page contains one person's description of their own method for playing a Rogue. It is not the only way that the Rogue class can be used. Other players can follow these suggestions or develop their own method. The Backstab skill has been changed since this guide was written and is now less powerful. __TOC__ This is my guide on how to get the most out of HabitRPG, which involves being a Rogue. Why should I be a Rogue? *'Aesthetics' — Ninja gear, dual-wielding weapons… could it get any cooler? *'Stats' — Dual-wielding grants more Strength than even a Warrior's sword. The Perception from your equipment enables Stealth to negate all your missed dailies for a Perfect Day, which is a huge stat boost. *'Skills '— By far, Rogue skills have the most utility. Backstab gains obscene amounts of gold and experience for just 15MP. Stealth is a 45MP Perfect Day. *'Fun' — I'll admit, I like big numbers, and Backstabbing for hundreds of GP/XP is incredibly fun and motivating (especially with ≈⅓ of them being crit!) — more so than collecting redundant drops or killing bosses that yield comparatively tiny rewards. You'll also get access to all the class's equipment extremely quickly. *'No other class' compares '''— Rogue skills supersede almost all the advantages of other classes. These will likely be fixed due to sheer brokenness, but as of now, Rogues level the fastest†, make the most gold (and get equips soonest), find the most stuff, take the least damage from missed dailies, and are least affected by HP loss. **†Caveat: A party of Mages can generate limitless MP → limitless INT buffs → limitless levels. **Note: The Mage skill Burst of Flames also has decent potential for XP gain. However, it's subject to a diminishing returns function that maxes out at 75 XP, and thus has much lower yield than Backstab. Also, Rogues are loads richer ☺ Okay, how do I min-max as a Rogue? Equipment Without contribution gear or class-switching, your ultimate equipment setup will be Stephen Weber's Shaft of the Dragon (+25 STR, +25 PER), Perching Falcon (+16 STR), Umbral Hood (+18 PER), and Umbral Armor (+27 PER). If you're able to contribute or switch classes, swap out Rogue stuff for gear that boosts our most important stat. Stats '''Everything into Intelligence. Not only does it increase your rate of XP gain and let you level much faster (+2.5% per point), but also increases your max MP (+2MP per point). This translates to more XP and MP gained per to-do and more MP per cron. '' For example, at level 40 and with 40 allocated INT, you'll level twice as fast and have 80 more MP (5⅓ additional Backstabs, 8 more MP per cron, and 0.8 more MP per to-do) — and that's without a Perfect Day!'' You'll get a bit of Strength from your equipment, but crits from regular tasks pale in comparison to the gains from Backstab, which crits 30% of the time! Unfortunately, low STR means you won't be doing much boss damage, but that's a small price to pay for all the levels and gold you'll get from pumping INT. Stealth (and/or discipline), rapid leveling (refills your HP), and the GP gain from Backstabs (with which you can easily afford Health Potions) obsolete Constitution. You'll have more than enough Perception from equipment to dodge all your dailies with Stealth. Personal productivity obsoletes an increased drop rate. I tend to hit my drop-cap before noon, and it takes a colossal 25 PER to increase the drop cap by just 1 measly point — I'd rather level 62.5% faster and get more Backstabs with INT. Skills Backstab is your bread and butter. It scales 1:1 with task value, which has no cap; this means the potential for XP/GP gain per Backstab is limitless. And it costs only 15MP! To make the most of this: *Backstab, Backstab, Backstab. Backstab often and with vigor. Backstab grants GP and XP equal to task value+1 with a 30% chance to crit, and isn't subject to diminishing returns (unlike Burst of Flames)! *Create a +/- habit and keep it very blue; cast Backstab only on this task. The higher the task value, the more XP/GP you'll gain for each Backstab. You can use Alys's User Data Display to check your tasks' values. (The reasoning behind using a +/- habit is not that it intrinsically possesses greater value, but that you can increase its value multiple times per day.) *As mentioned in the stats section, allocate attribute points towards Intelligence to maximize the number of Backstabs you can perform. *Complete as many to-dos as possible, generating MP to fuel more Backstabs. This is in contrast to habits, which don't grant MP. *Minimize your need to cast Stealth for a Perfect Day by being disciplined and completing all your dailies yourself. Get Perfect Days as often as possible; they provide a huge stat boost. For example, at level 40, a pure INT build will level an additional 50% faster and afford 2⅔ more Backstabs after a Perfect Day. *At the end of the day, make sure you have ≤90% of your MP bar filled, so that the 10% max MP gained from cron isn't wasted on overfill. If you have Mages in your party, it may be a good idea to keep your MP bar even lower in case they cast Ethereal Surge and refill your MP. * Pickpocket is only useful when you don't have 15 MP left or you haven't gotten the Backstab spell yet. It nets substantially less gold than Backstab, and while it's tempting to burn all of your MP on Pickpocket at level 11, your rewards are far greater if you wait until level 12, since Backstab gives you both more money and XP, whereas Pickpocket only gives you gold. Conclusion Please note this guide represents my personal opinion. At the end of the day, the optimal class and playstyle is wholly dependent on what best motivates you to be productive. If quick cash, rapid leveling, and fewer drops are disincentivizing for you, then a Backstabbing Mensa Rogue might not be the way to go. For lovers of efficiency and big numbers, I hope this guide has helped you use Habit to its fullest! Feel free to leave questions, comments, or suggestions on the talk page.